


Polaris

by orphan_account



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, episodic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:12:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the outcome of Moira Queen’s trial, Oliver returns to his life as nighttime Arrow and daytime CEO. Balancing both roles isn’t easy, but when physicist Neal Emerson returns to Starling City, Oliver will have to work overtime on both fronts. </p><p>Full synopsis on the first page. The story includes Team Arrow, Thea and Roy and Laurel Lance among others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  **Synopsis**

  
Following the outcome of Moira Queen’s trial, Oliver returns to his life as nighttime Arrow and daytime CEO. Balancing both roles isn’t easy, but when physicist Neal Emerson returns to Starling City, Oliver will have to work overtime on both fronts. At first, Emerson comes off as nothing more than Queen Consolidates’ latest employed physics-genius, whose deal to install five of his patented energy devices in one of Queen Industrial’s departments was signed by Isabel Rochev. But when the Arrow discovers peculiar deliveries to Queen Industrial, Team Arrow wonders: What’s really in those new energy devices Queen Consolidated bought? Is Emerson really only the physicist he claims to be?

Meanwhile, while helping Thea at Verdant, Roy has an unexpected run-in with former friend Donna Troy. She asks for help after the project of setting up refuge homes for the Glades’ most exposed has come to a halt after business-men decided to tear down the refuge to build factories. They go to Laurel for help, who has a mystery of her own to figure out...

* * *

 

  **Prologue**

 

The wind howled like screams at Starling City International Airport. The evening was late but the city landscape never truly dark, kept awake by a sea of electric lights.

The side entrance of the plane opened, and a man in a well-tailored suit walked out onto the top of the stairs. He stopped briefly, looking out across the landing strip, where a small crew approached on feet followed by large, silver-colored trucks.

At the bottom of the staircase he was met by an approaching man, wrapped in a black coat and a knitted hat pulled halfway down to cover his face from the cold wind. The expensive leather shoes on both men gave them away.

“Sir?” the approaching man asked, looking up. “I thought you were travelling separately from the cargo.”

“No, Mr. Trask. There is no chance I’m letting my devices travel without me. Not when they contain enough energy to power a large metropolis, and especially not when it’s my name on the label.”

Trask turned and looked to the back of the plane, at the label on the unloaded cargo vaults. Silver and blue, Queen Consolidated’s clear logo. The frown on the man opposite him was clear in the yellow electric light.

“What’s important is that it’s my name’s on what’s inside,” he said, with a hint of dissatisfaction. “It won’t be long before it replaces what’s currently on it. All of Starling City will know, soon.”

In that moment, the well-suited man didn’t look bothered by the cold and biting winds, and his smile lit up his entire face. He looked like a man at a starting line before a race who already knows he’s going to win.

One of the crewmen approached, rolling an empty vault cart in front of him. ”We’ll be finished unloading in ten minutes, Mr. Emerson.”

“Good.”

The man now known as Emerson looked at the man, before looking at Trask. Emerson put his hand on Trask’s shoulder and smiled like a slice of dawn.

“It’s been many years since I was in Starling City. It’s about time to show them what real power is like.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find the notes at the end of actual Chapter 1. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 1

 

** 1 **

 

 

The weather in Starling City had been miserable for weeks, but today the skies were mostly clear. It was the kind of mild winter day that made spring feel closer and like summer waited around the corner.

From a view eighteen floors up in a high-rise, Felicity Smoak turned from the window in time for the elevator doors to open and for the company’s acting CEO to step out, followed by his personal black driver.

Considering it had been less than six hours since they saw each other last, she skipped the greeting.

“They’re waiting,” she said, following Oliver through the door into his office. “None of them too happily, I might add.”

“Well aware, Felicity.” Oliver grabbed two paper files from his desk before looking in the direction of the conference room. Diggle remained by the door, pulling a packet of chewing gum out from his pocket.

“Everything in those are sorted according to date.” Felicity nodded to the files in Oliver’s hand. “And don’t forget you have a meeting with Mr. Emerson this afternoon.”

“Who?”

Felicity tried not to frown. “The physics genius who’s coming over from China? He’s been over there, what, like fifteen years, working for Queen Consolidated’s research department. In case you’ve forgotten that too, you’re holding a gala for him later this week at the Queen Mansion.” She walked with Oliver on his way to the conference room. “Emerson came up with this new way to generate nuclear energy, which involves a lot less radiation than, say, your ordinary nuclear reactor, where the waste takes, like, thousands of years to decay.”

He looked between the documents and her. “I’ll read up on the details later.”

“I'll fill you in. Just remember that you and the Ice Queen are meeting him this afternoon.” Now Felicity _did_ frown. "Sorry. I mean, you and Ms. Rochev are meeting him this afternoon."

Oliver hesitated before going into the room, sighing. “This is the part I wish I could wake up from.”

“There are bagels on the table. Coffee too. You’ll be fine.” She patted him gently on the arm.

Pushing air out between tense lips, Oliver opened the transparent doors and headed into what was going to be a very long day of very boring meetings.

 

 

 

When Felicity returned to her desk, she looked up at Diggle, leaning against the wall in front of her desk.

“What’s with him?” she asked, sitting down.

“Thea jumped his throat at home. Something about the club and attendance.”

“That’s nothing new.” Felicity looked the way of the conference room, where everyone had sat back down after greeting their tired-looking CEO. Felicity noticed the icy stares from Isabel. “He may just be tired. Been a lot, lately.”

“Yeah. It has. But that’s nothing new, either.”

“So what, we’re just going to chalk this up to lack of sleep and dreadfully boring outsights for the day?”

Diggle offered Felicity a piece of gum as she sat down behind her desk, but a brief shake of her head was his answer.

“Would _you_ be so happy to spend your day going over numbers with those people in there?”

Felicity didn’t even glance up this time. “I’d rather jump out of a plane again.”

Diggle lips pulled upward. “That can be arranged.”

“No! No jumping out of anything. Unless it’s a bathtub. Oh, man, I could really use a warm bath and a couple of hours to myself…”

At Diggle’s raised eyebrows, Felicity shot up in her seat.

“No – I mean, not like that, it’s just…” Diggle shook his head, amused, while Felicity sighed. “I’m a bit tired, too.”

Diggle watched her a moment. “Maybe you should take a little time off.”

“If only.” This time Felicity did look up. “You can try to hide it as much as you want, but those bags beneath your eyes, mister?” She turned between computer screens, pointing a pen in Diggle’s direction. “Going to take _days_ to get rid off.”

“Time’s never on our side, Felicity.”

“And by the look of Oliver's itinerary, it never will be. Maybe we should ask Mr. Emerson if he’s got any physics-fix for sleep deprivation.”

“You know, there is a cure. It's called _sleep_.”

With a shrill tone, the phone rang next to Felicity right that moment. Diggle chuckled, returning to Oliver’s office as Felicity shook her head, answering the phone and wishing to God she’d brought a whole bucket of coffee instead of just a cup.

 

 

 

In Verdant, the sharp sound of Thea’s heels against the club floor rapped evenly as she helped the delivery guys unload the latest shipment of alcohol to the club. She walked quickly, her movements fast, she’d even snapped at one of the delivery men twice already, even though she knew it wasn’t really his fault either time. It wasn’t the delivery guy she was irritated with.

When he phone rang she nearly dropped the case between her hands, but the delivery guy next to her smoothly picked it up and placed it behind the bar.

“Roy, where are you? The shipment arrived twenty minutes ago, and I haven’t even gotten a third of the inventory list done, and…” Thea stopped, putting a hand on her forehead. “You said you’d help.”

“I know I did, and I’m not bailing on you. But something’s come up.”

“Something, huh.”

“An old friend of mine asked me to check something out for her. I couldn’t say no. It’s about the Glades.”

“Roy, are you chasing after the Hood again?”

“I’m not, Thea. This isn’t about the Hood. This is about checking something out for an old friend.”

Thea hesitated on the other end of the line, elbow leaning on the bar counter. She knew there was more he wasn’t saying, but for now, there was nothing she could do since she wasn’t _there_.

Roy’s voice turned lower. “I’ll meet up with you this afternoon, okay? Make up for the time I missed. Rearrange the shelves a little.”

Thea couldn’t stop the low smile. “Alright. But you better be here.”

“I will.”

Thea looked at her phone as the call disconnected, leaning her face against her balled hand a moment. It didn’t make sense for Roy to go chasing after the Hood halfway through morning; she knew he was telling the truth. But this friend of his, looking into something in the Glades…

Thea looked around Verdant. She couldn’t leave and go to Roy like she wanted to. She had to stay here, receive the latest shipment and cross items of endless lists that only seemed to get longer.

But at least Roy was coming later. She’d wait to ask him until then.

 

 

 

It wasn’t until an hour after lunch that the conference meeting split up. People spilled out of the room in loud voices, discussing numbers, people, all business connections. Last of them Isabel came walking out through the office with Oliver.

“… remember, we have a meeting with Dr. Emerson at three this afternoon. The contract we signed with him is worth more than you’ll assistant will earn in her lifetime, so do try to be there, Oliver.”

Isabel stopped a few feet away from Felicity’s desk, even though Felicity knew she could perfectly well have gone over to the elevator but chose not to.

“Miss Smoak, your boss seems to be hungry. But, just so we’re clear, for food—in case you thought of anything else he might be hungry for.” Finally she walked to the elevator, jacket slung over her arm, documents in her other hand. “I’ll see you at three. Don’t be late.”

After the doors closed around her, Diggle let out low whistle. “She’s a real piece of work.”

Felicity, whose knuckles were white gripping a pencil in each hand, spoke from pressed lips. “Tell me about it. Actually, don’t tell me about it. It’s enough I have to spend more time with that woman this afternoon.”

“From the look of things, he’s not too excited about it either.”

Both looked through the transparent glass to where Oliver sat at his desk, piled up to half in files.

“I better make sure his appetite gets fed.”

It took putting the phone to her ear for Felicity to realize what she’d just said.

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that – not _that_ appetite. Not really my department."

“Mhmm.” Diggle looked amused, but said nothing as he walked over to the elevator and went down to the garage.

 

 

 

After noon in the D.A.’s office meant a swirl of people returning from their lunch, and Laurel was no exception. She came from a new salad and smoothie place around the corner. She liked that place because it allowed her to sit alone in the window corner and think, by herself, but with enough distraction around her to not get lost too deep in herself. The shadows came for her every night. That was enough.

Walking through the hallway, she heard the familiar voices of her colleagues from her office before she entered.

“Is there anything that’s actually new on the news these days? It’s all the same tunes with a new melody, if you ask me.”

Donner was sitting by the table, holding the TV remote stretched out by his side, an empty box of China food on the table next to him. Across from him stood one of Laurel’s female colleagues, who turned her head when Laurel entered the office.

“Hi, Laurel.”

“Hi.” She smiled at them. “What are you watching?”

“News coverage,” her female colleague filled her in. “Doctor Neal Emerson just arrived into the city last night.”

Laurel paused. “I recognize that name.”

“He’s been on and off the news these past few weeks, since it was announced Queens Consolidated bought the prototypes for his energy devices, and then again once the award was announced. I think Q.C.’s planning on installing a few of his devices here in the city.”

“That’s not it.” Laurel walked closer to the TV screen, getting a better look of Emerson. Black hair, grey eyes, handsome for an older man. She definitely recognized that face from somewhere.

With decisive steps, Laurel grabbed her coat and left the office, determined to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is based on an idea I had after reading some of my old comic books. I thought I'd write it like how an episode plays out, which is why most of the characters you see in the show will make an appearance. And I didn't know what to put under pairings since it, for now, follows the show's canon. If there's interest, I might continue posting one or two chapters per week.
> 
> Please let it be known that I suck at synopses. 
> 
> I don't really have that much more to say, other than, thanks for reading! And please let me know if you're interested in more.


End file.
